4 ms·

I actually lived in a room remarkably similar to this one year in college. It was marginally bigger than what is pictured, but the space was used far less effic

I actually lived in a room remarkably similar to this one year in college. It was marginally bigger than what is pictured, but the space was used far less efficiently (lots of annoying free-standing furniture) so functionally it was probably smaller. Aside from the lack of a window making it awfully hard to wake up in the morning, it was no big deal. It was actually my favorite dorm room I had in college. The single-room-in-a-suite model is amazing. The big thing was that I had a common room shared with my suite-mates which was large-ish, comfortable, and naturally lit. I spent my time at home there, but it's college so I spent most of my time out of the dorm anyway. My big concern with this UCSB dorm would be for students who are significantly asocial. For the many who crave an isolated personal space, it could be majorly depressing. I get the idea that the entire goal of the design is to try to get people to not behave that way, but I doubt that will work. I'd guess this dorm would be a great experience for a very significant majority of students, but basically a torture chamber for an unfortunate minority. Ergo it's probably an extremely bad idea.

thehappypm 5y ago
Yeah, I feel like most folks here are wildly out of touch with what it's like to be a college student, including the architect. I, and just about everyone else from my college, would trade just about every creature comfort for a private room to sleep. In fact my college had suites like these and they were fought over tooth-and-nail in the room draw process. I think one of the most bizarre things we accept in life is college kids being forced into doubles and triples. College "kids" are adults, not little kids in camp. Plus, even with my window in my single suite room, my sleep cycle was so messed up half the time due to the occasional all-nighter that having no window might have actually been easier for me to deal with.
- kwhitefoot 5y ago
  > I think one of the most bizarre things we accept in life is college kids being forced into doubles and triples. I went to uni. in the 70s in the UK. I never had to share. A few students at the same uni. did but it was almost always possible to move to a single room later in the year. Do so many US students really have to share rooms, and if so why?
  - thehappypm 5y ago
    Yes, it's extremely common to share, especially in the first couple years. Many many colleges require students to live on campus freshman year and the provided housing is forced doubles (or even triples) and sometimes even temporary housing. As for why -- it's cheaper to stuff 2 or 3 students into 1 dorm room, obviously.
0xB31B1B 5y ago
You do realize that like, 10% of the student population at UCSB is offically homeless right? Right now they sleep on friends couches, in their cars, or in transient weekly rental situations

thehappypm 5y ago

Yeah, I feel like most folks here are wildly out of touch with what it's like to be a college student, including the architect. I, and just about everyone else from my college, would trade just about every creature comfort for a private room to sleep. In fact my college had suites like these and they were fought over tooth-and-nail in the room draw process. I think one of the most bizarre things we accept in life is college kids being forced into doubles and triples. College "kids" are adults, not little kids in camp. Plus, even with my window in my single suite room, my sleep cycle was so messed up half the time due to the occasional all-nighter that having no window might have actually been easier for me to deal with.

kwhitefoot 5y ago
> I think one of the most bizarre things we accept in life is college kids being forced into doubles and triples. I went to uni. in the 70s in the UK. I never had to share. A few students at the same uni. did but it was almost always possible to move to a single room later in the year. Do so many US students really have to share rooms, and if so why?
- thehappypm 5y ago
  Yes, it's extremely common to share, especially in the first couple years. Many many colleges require students to live on campus freshman year and the provided housing is forced doubles (or even triples) and sometimes even temporary housing. As for why -- it's cheaper to stuff 2 or 3 students into 1 dorm room, obviously.

0xB31B1B 5y ago

You do realize that like, 10% of the student population at UCSB is offically homeless right? Right now they sleep on friends couches, in their cars, or in transient weekly rental situations